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Re: Scratches reappear after a week...

Originally Posted by Nicholas Winn

My first thought it that the scratches you are seeing have were not taking out during your initial compounding step. Ultimate Polish & NXT Tech Wax 2.0 have some natural ability to certain defects to a certain extent, but I don't believe that is the case here.

Re: Scratches reappear after a week...

Inspected it before I applied wax and the scratches are appearing now...

When reading this it is leading me to a few things. I could be wrong as I am not physically there to witness what is going on.

1. The areas where the defects are reappearing have not been worked enough or they are too deep for DAPS attachment to remove with a drill. Possibly needing to go with an actual dual action polisher to get better results.

2. With the DAPS, it needs to be held at a certain angle to have it work properly. The defects could be an issue with refining your technique with the DA drill attachment.

3. The towels are causing these defects when removing NXT. It is known as towel marring.

4. Has the area been repainted? The reason I ask is because repainted areas behave differently than factory paint.

Originally Posted by Geeky

Nicholas - Could you please elaborate a little about this.

TIA

I'm not Nick but ultimate polish is rich in polishing oils. These polishing oils will darken the paint but they can also fill in defects. Now this does not meet it has fillers. The oils are there to act as a lubricant between the pad and painted surface. So it is possible that there is residual oils left behind by ultimate polish. This is why some of us use a prep wipe like IPA or a product similar to CarPro Eraser. These are intended to remove polishing oils. NXT has been said to hide defects as well as it is considered a polish wax. Not an abrasive polish ultimate polish.

Nick can elaborate a little more on this. I am giving you the non technical description.

Re: Scratches reappear after a week...

I agree with Guz in his recommendation to use some kind of a quick detailer spray if possible when you are wiping the vehicle down. Also, if you aren't already doing this, be sure to switch to a clean part of the towel often. Otherwise you may be trapping dirt in your towel and scratching the paint with that. Since you said the scratches that are reappearing aren't deep, I'm wondering if perhaps this is what's happening. If it was a matter of polishing oils and NXT wax filling the scratches, I guess I'm surprised that the effects would go away that quickly.

Also, like he mentioned, wiping the paint carefully with isopropyl alcohol after using Ultimate Polish is a good way to make sure the swirls are indeed gone. I wouldn't necessarily wipe the whole vehicle down with it, but maybe do a portion to get a better idea of what you're working with. Be careful to use a soft cloth for this also to avoid marring the paint. I would personally recommend isopropyl alcohol diluted 1 part alcohol to 9 parts water. I'm not sure how IPA is sold where you are but here in the states it's sold diluted a few different ways so you may have to do some math to get it diluted to roughly 10%.

When you said they are reappearing, are the swirls reappearing or does it appear to be individual deeper scratches? I think the most important thing is to find out whether these are old scratches that are reappearing or whether they are new scratches. Then you can go about addressing the issue.

Re: Scratches reappear after a week...

Originally Posted by The Guz

1. The areas where the defects are reappearing have not been worked enough or they are too deep for DAPS attachment to remove with a drill. Possibly needing to go with an actual dual action polisher to get better results.

I have plans to buy an actual dual action polisher but not now.

Originally Posted by The Guz

2. With the DAPS, it needs to be held at a certain angle to have it work properly. The defects could be an issue with refining your technique with the DA drill attachment.

Yeah I noticed this because the hood looks much better then the trunk area. All done by me but maybe I was using different angles. Do you know of any articles or videos explaining this?

Originally Posted by The Guz

3. The towels are causing these defects when removing NXT. It is known as towel marring.

I used microfiber when I was applying meguiars products but I will try to use microfiber now...

Originally Posted by The Guz

4. Has the area been repainted? The reason I ask is because repainted areas behave differently than factory paint.

Nope, No accidents or repaints so far. Its all factory paint unless the dealership lied to me

Originally Posted by The Guz

I'm not Nick but ultimate polish is rich in polishing oils.

Someone spending time, trying to solve my problem. I cant thank you enough

Originally Posted by The Guz

These polishing oils will darken the paint but they can also fill in defects. Now this does not meet it has fillers. The oils are there to act as a lubricant between the pad and painted surface. So it is possible that there is residual oils left behind by ultimate polish. This is why some of us use a prep wipe like IPA or a product similar to CarPro Eraser. These are intended to remove polishing oils. NXT has been said to hide defects as well as it is considered a polish wax. Not an abrasive polish ultimate polish.

Yeah I will carefully inspect UC next time I use it. I need to remember that the scratches left after using UC is what I will get after a week or so.

Re: Scratches reappear after a week...

Originally Posted by Lydia

I agree with Guz in his recommendation to use some kind of a quick detailer spray if possible when you are wiping the vehicle down. Also, if you aren't already doing this, be sure to switch to a clean part of the towel often. Otherwise you may be trapping dirt in your towel and scratching the paint with that. Since you said the scratches that are reappearing aren't deep, I'm wondering if perhaps this is what's happening. If it was a matter of polishing oils and NXT wax filling the scratches, I guess I'm surprised that the effects would go away that quickly.

I have detailers spray that I used for claying but somehow I don't like the idea of using it on a dirty car. All that dust, getting wet and sticky, it feels like it will put more scratches. I need to try using it once though. I will give it a try today. The scratches I see now are not deep and I feel another pass of UC will probably get rid of them but I must resist the urge Just used it a week ago. Ive decided not to use it again for a few months. Or maybe try 105 after a year.

Originally Posted by Lydia

Also, like he mentioned, wiping the paint carefully with isopropyl alcohol after using Ultimate Polish is a good way to make sure the swirls are indeed gone. I wouldn't necessarily wipe the whole vehicle down with it, but maybe do a portion to get a better idea of what you're working with. Be careful to use a soft cloth for this also to avoid marring the paint. I would personally recommend isopropyl alcohol diluted 1 part alcohol to 9 parts water. I'm not sure how IPA is sold where you are but here in the states it's sold diluted a few different ways so you may have to do some math to get it diluted to roughly 10%.

I will try to search for IPA.

Originally Posted by Lydia

When you said they are reappearing, are the swirls reappearing or does it appear to be individual deeper scratches? I think the most important thing is to find out whether these are old scratches that are reappearing or whether they are new scratches. Then you can go about addressing the issue.

I was assuming with all the care Ive taken that these are old scratches but I think I will be able to tell the difference next time. I am planning to use different cloths on different areas to find out the root cause of these scratches.

Re: Scratches reappear after a week...

Yeah I noticed this because the hood looks much better then the trunk area. All done by me but maybe I was using different angles. Do you know of any articles or videos explaining this?

The pad basically has to be flat against the paint. Another thing to point out is that the pads need to be cleaned often. They load up fast with product and paint residue from compounding and polishing.

Re: Scratches reappear after a week...

Originally Posted by The Guz

The pad basically has to be flat against the paint. Another thing to point out is that the pads need to be cleaned often. They load up fast with product and paint residue from compounding and polishing.

Re: Scratches reappear after a week...

I used Meguairs Supreme Shine microfibre to wipe off the compound, polish and wax residue and cotton terry towels to clean the dust that settles on the car every day.

You should also use Microfiber to clean the dust that settles in the car every day as terry towels are typically more abrasive than microfiber. It's not clear if you used the terry towel by itself when cleaning daily dirt from your car. So make sure you use a quick detailer with it. Good Luck !!